Price Per Person: Tour now sold out - reserve list being takenHotel: 3-star hotel in St Quentin or Peronne

WFA Chairmans Tour - Spring Offensive

WFA Chairmans Tour - The Spring Offensive

Our initial 2018 tour is planned to study the battle of Arras from both sides of the wire.

Dr Jack Sheldon will again be joining Clive Harris as in previous years and the pair will consider the Spring Offensive through a number of key locations from both a British and German perspective. This year these will include St Quentin, Epehy, Flesquieres and Villers bretonneux . As in previous WFA tours the initial day to day plan is intended for WFA members who have an interest in the Spring Offensive to join ensuring the story of their relatives will become an integral part of the detailed itinerary.

The last four Chairman's tours have sold out so we decided to replicate the formula for both Western Front Association tours this year, our Chairman Colin Wagstaff will also join the tour to represent the association. The Chairmans tours not only provide a comprehensive study of the campaign, the ground and the men that fought there, they offer an informal social few days on the 'old front line' for WFA members and the chance to continue 'remembering' a century on.

The tour will start at Ebbsfleet International Station offering superb convenient links from London rail hubs and in addition provides secure parking at a reasonable rate. Transport via an executive standard coach and return channel crossing are also included throughout. The tour is limited to 25 spaces to ensure quality and make this tour feel like a personal pilgrimage as opposed to a large coach group. Personal visits to relatives or people of interest to you are positively encouraged and will be incorporated into the tour itinerary whilst these will be reflected as the group fills up a preliminary itinerary is planned as follows:

Tour Itinerary

Day 1 – Friday 8 June 2018:

Departing from Ebbsfleet International around 100hrs we travel onwards to Dover for our ferry crossing to Calais. Upon arrival in France we travel down to St Quentin or Peronne with a stop en-route at the Pozieres Memorial commemorating the men of Gough's Fifth Army who fell in the Spring of 1918. After checking in to our Hotel and a welcome drink Jack Sheldon will provide a lecture on the German Army on the Western Front in the Spring of 1918.

Day 2 – Saturday 9 June 2018:

Our day is spent visiting the Manchester Hill/St Quentin sector to study the defence by the 30th and 36th Divisions against a German bombardment of 3,500,000 shells over a 150 square mile area. By visiting isolated spots, forgotten memorials and remote cemeteries we uncover the forward and battle zones of the Fifth Army fiercely fought over in the first 24 hours of the battle 21 March 1918. We consider the issue of fog and whether it worked for or against the Germans during this critical day.

Day 3 – Sunday 10 June 2018:

Today we study the northern sector of the battlefield including the villages of Epehy and Flesquieres. We focus on Julian Byng's Third Army from their defence around Bullecourt and how the total breakdown of communications meant that many headquarters were cut off and unable to influence the battle. Despite these disadvantages we study ground where men, low on ammunition held on doggedly in the face of superior numbers enabling the line to bend and buckle but not break. We end our day with a visit to the D51 Deborah in her new home offering far reaching views over the 1918 battlefield.

Day 4 – Monday 11 June 2018:

Our final morning offers a comprehensive study of the Villers Bretonneux battlefield that brought the Spring offensive in Picardy to a close, the scene of bitter fighting involving British infantry, cavalry and armour, British and Australian played a vital role in defence against overwhelming German attacking forces. We then head back to Calais and our onward journey to the UK arriving at Ebbsfleet around 1600hrs

Booking

If you would like to book your place on this tour please download and complete the booking form and send to us with your deposit.

You can either send a cheque made payable to “Battle Honours Ltd”, pay by BACS transfer (IBAN if overseas) both account details on bottom of booking form.

Whilst I have done many self organised tours this is my first Battle Honours It lived up to all the high praise that others had given them and meeting up with people who had been on so many of your tours was a confirmation of their success.
Thanks to you and Jack who complimented each other so well we saw and learned so much in such a short space of time that I am trying to digest it with reference to the photos taken. Certainly as you said the Tour that goes to places that no other tour ever touches.
Also personally fulfilling in at last seeing the location of the Schwaben Redoubt and the STARFISH LINE makes the war diaries written descriptions more imaginable. So thank you to all who organised it and looking forward to ARRAS and CAMBRAI in 2017
here are some pics of you and Jack in action All the best

Chris Weekes (Western Front Association) October 2016

Award Winning Guides

Battle Honour’s are the proud holders of the coveted 2013 Nathaniel Wade award from the Guild of Battlefield Guides for our services to guiding,